Car-door latch.



L. J. MOCLOSKEY. CAR DOOR LATCH. APPLICATION FILED D20. 29, 1911.

1 ,020, 1 O7. Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

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Alforuqv COLUMIIA PLANOGRAFH C0. WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS J. MGCLOSKEY, OF CARRICK BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TOPHILLIPS MINE AND MILL SUPPLY 00., 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ACORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-DOOR LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LoUIs J. MoCLosKnY, citizen of the United States,residing at Garrick borough, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCar-Door Latches, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention has relation to car door latches and relates inparticular to latches for the doors of mine cars of that class in whichthe door is pivoted at or near its upper edge and swings outwardly whenthe car is tilted in discharging the coal and swings inwardly when thecar has been allowed to resume its normal horizontal position after thecoal has been discharged.

In the ordinary mine car a latch is employed which must be opened andclosed by hand and these latches do not close automatically, beingusually composed of a pivoted angular piece that engages the terminallink on the free end of a chain which projects through a hole in theswinging door, the other end of this chain being fastened to thedraw-bar of the car or to the floor of the car inside the door. In this,the ordinary latching device, it is always necessary to latch the doorby hand, and hence this form of latch cannot be used where the cars areemployed on self dumping cages.

The object of my invention is to provide a latch of novel constructionwhich will operate automatically upon the closing of the door and whichmay be unlatohed from either side of the car.

My invention consists in the novel constructions, combinations andarrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing in which I have illustrated my invention:Figure 1 is a rear end elevation of a car having my improved latchingmechanism applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of theend portion of the car shown in Fig. 1 and taken on the dotted line00-40 of Fig. 1, the door being shown in its fully closed position. Fig.3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but with the door in a partly closedposition, such as it assumes when it swings back of its normalperpendicular position toward the inside of the car as the car rightsitself after having been tipped or tilted.

The sides of the car are designated A and the bottom of the car isdesignated B and carries the draw-bar C. D, designates the door whichconforms in shape to the crosssectional form of the car and is suspendedfrom a round rod E, that is sustained by the vertical bars F, carried bythe sides A of the car, said bars F projecting slightly above the sidesA, and being bent inwardly at their projecting upper ends G, as shown.

The door D is suspended from the rod E, by hinges II, which are eachcomposed of a flat strap that is bent into a semi-circle at its middle,its ends extending down vertically to near the lower edge of the doorand the bent central portions of the straps extending around the rod E,as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The door D, is formed with an opening I, at the center of its lower end,through which the draw bar C, projects, and in order to strengthen andprotect the wood of which the door is formed, a flat plate of metal J,is bolted to the outside of the door, this plate havin an opening 2',for the passage of the draw bar C, the opening 2', corresponding to theopening I, in the door.

A guide plate K, is secured to each hinge on the outer side of the doorand between these guide plates and the hinges a round bar L, isarranged, this bar having its ends Z, Z, bent outwardly at right angles,and the bar fitting loosely in and being adapted to slide up and downand rock between the guide plates and hinges and being provided withcollars M, which are welded or otherwise firinly secured in position onthe bar L, and are located a SIllllClGIll; distance from the guideplates K, to permit the rod to be tilted slightly, while serving at thesame time to prevent unnecessary longitudinal movement of the bar L.

At the center of the bar L, a latch plate N, is attached to the bar bywelding or in any other suitable manner, this plate being arranged atsubstantially a right angle to the bent ends of the bar L, the loweredge of the plate extending, when the bar is at its lowermost position,slightly below the upper edge of the openings 2' and I, in the plate J,and door D, respectively.

A keeper 0 is mounted on the top of the draw bar 0, this keeper havingan upturned outer end 0 that engages the latch plate N, the upturned end0, being of such length that it will pass through the openings 2' and Iin the plate J, and the door D, as the door swings open and shut, butwill engage the latch plate N and keep the door locked against outwardmovement when the door is closed, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

Operation: The door is shown in closed position in Figs. 1 and 2 of thedrawing, the bar L being now at its lowermost position in the guideplates K and the latch plate L being in engagement with the upturned end0, of the keeper 0, thus holding the door securely locked. To open thedoor it is only necessary to raise the bar L at either end, which can beconveniently done from either side of the car by striking the lower sideof one of the outwardly bent ends Z, of the bar, so as to throw the barup at an angle either on one side or the other according to whicheverend of the bar is raised, thus raising the latch plate up and out ofengagement with the upturned end 0 of the keeper 0 as shown in dottedlines in Fig. l. a

When the latch plate is raised as described, the weight of the coalwithin the car will, particularly if the car has been tilted, force openthe door and permit the coal to be discharged, the door swingingoutwardly on rod E, and the rod L dropping back to horizontal position.As the car is tilted back to its normal horizontal position after thecoal has been discharged, the door will swing back slightly beyond itsnormal perpendicular position and, during this movement of the door, thelatch plate will glide over the upturned end 0 of the keeper O,-in themanner shown in Fig. 3 and after the latch plate N, is passed over theupturned end 0 of the keeper 0, the weight of the outwardly bent ends Z,Z, of the bar L, will cause the latch plate to swing back into contactwith the plate J, so that it will automatically engage the upthe door.

If desired the outwardly bent ends Z, Z, of the bar L may be dispensedwith and the weight of the latch plate alone depended on to return thelatch plate to position;

I claim:

1. In a car door latch, the combination of a swinging door, guidescarried by the door and a keeper arranged below the door, with ahorizontally disposed vertically movable and rotatable rod arranged insaid guides and a latch plate carried by said rod and adapted to engagesaid keeper.

2. In a car door latching device, the combination with guides carried bythe door and a keeper carried by the car, of a horizontally disposed,vertically movable and rotatable rod, mounted in said guides and havingoutwardly bent ends and a latch,.; 6 5? plate carried by said rod andarranged at an angle to said outwardly bent ends and adapted to bebrought to horizontal position to engage said keeper by a rockingmovement of said rod.

3. In a car door latching device, the combination with guides carried bythe door, a horizontally disposed rod loosely mounted in said guides,the ends of said rod extending toward each edge of the door, of a latchplate carried by the said rod, centrally thereof, a keeper carried bythe car and adapted to be engaged by the latch plate, said rod and saidguides being so constructed and arranged that the rod may be lifted ateither end or the center to free the latch plate from engagement withthe keeper.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signa-: ture in presence of twowitnesses.

LOUIS J. MOCLOSKEY.

WVitnesses:

ROBERT F. PHILLIPS, D. A. BECK.

7 Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

